


The Quite Ordinary and Utterly Unremarkable Guide to Charming Glass

by velvet_sometimes



Category: Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types
Genre: Action & Romance, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Blind Character, Blindness, Curses, Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Howl is a terrible flirt, Libraries, Magic, Magic-Users, Magical Artifacts, Short Chapters, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Sophie owns a book store, Wizards, mostly a spin on book-verse, themed chapters, you have to finish what you begin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 03:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6594514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvet_sometimes/pseuds/velvet_sometimes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is quite a thing, to be the eldest of three. And Sophie Hatter had contented herself with her perfectly 'lovely' and ordinary existence in Market Chipping. But giving in to the temptation of a dusty old tome opens the way to a dangerous journey, where beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and the greatest adventure is learning how to 'see'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Leisure

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm finally uploading this story. Its only been available on FFn until now, and at 53 chapters, is still uncompleted.  
> I plan on uploading a few chapters a day until I get through my backlog. Mostly this story is told with drabble length chapters.

**Leisure ******

Sophie Hatter thought herself to be rather lucky, given that being eldest of three was so unlucky. She had a lovely little bookshop, Propriety Books, that passed to her by her master upon the completion of her apprenticeship, and she had a lovely little house out behind it, in a lovely little town called Market Chipping. The people were all quite nice, and business was just steady enough that she was content in her work, with enough time for a leisurely read as she waited on her customers. 

Really, the only way she thought to describe her life, was lovely. 

“Of course, Mrs. Smith,” she told the older woman with a smile, lifting the folding board that separated the counter and the back room from the store proper. “The Proper Guide To Cooking came in just this morning. Let me go into store room and fetch it for you.” 

“If you could hurry, dearie, I've errands to run!” Mrs. Smiths voice called out to her as she disappeared behind the curtain into the dimly lit storeroom. 


	2. Labyrinthine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The theme of the chapters are the vocabulary words my niece receives in school.

**Labyrinthine ******

“A Kiss can beautify souls, hearts, and thoughts.” That was the last line she had read of her book before Mrs. Smith had come calling, and the line swirled in her brain as if on an endless loop as she traversed the labyrinthine pathways of her store-room, created by piles and boxes and shelves of books that had yet to find a home after having arrived.

“The Proper Guide To Cooking.” she murmured to herself as she scanned the labels on the boxes, heaving a couple out of her way so she could check behind them.

“Not you. Not you.” she rattled off with every box that was destined to be not what she was searching for. “Definitely not yo- Hello there.” Sophie pause, coming across a dusty old box she didn't remember having seen before. “And who might you be?” she asked softly, setting down the heavy package in her arms so she could inspect the oddity.

She carefully lifted the aged box into her arms, fingering the note that was tied with twine to the outside of it.

“Dear reader,” she began, blowing the dust from the surface of the paper. “If you find yourself to be holding this parcel in your hands, you must have been gifted with Propriety Books and found it while looking for something or other. I implore you, whoever you may be, to set this box back where you have found it and once again forget that you ever found it as all, less you give into the temptation and open it. It is a book, of course you nosy fellow, but a very particular book that you should find all sorts of things amiss if you were to read it. If you value your quaint and quiet life, please return to what you where doing.”

Sophie leveled the package with her gaze for a long moment, before setting it back down. “Well, you couldn't be more concise than that.”


	3. Comely

**Comely ******

She continued on with her search, giving out a soft noise of pleasure when she finally came across the proper box, which did indeed contain the comely paperback she had been searching for.

She lifted a single copy from the box, bringing it forward so she could run reverent fingers across it's uncreased spine, before carefully opening it so she could smell the pages; enjoying the crisp sound that accompanied the covers being opened for the first time. Oh how she loved the scent of freshly printed ink. It always reminded her of sitting on her fathers knee as a child, and curious fingertips following the lines of prose as he carefully sounded out words for her to mimic.

“Sophie, dearie!” Came the voice of Mrs. Smith from the front of the shop, breaking her from her revery. “Have you found it yet?”

“Oh my! Yes ma'am, Just now in fact.” She called back in reply, setting the book down atop another box so she could move others back into their proper places before taking it in hand again and moving toward the store proper.

Her eyes only strayed to the mystery package and it's ominous note for a brief moment before she flipped the curtain open with a flick of her wrist and set The Proper Guide To Cooking down upon the counter before Mrs. Smith with a flourish.

“Here we are ma'am, that will be Ninety-Two cents.”

“My, how expensive!”


	4. Forbearance

**Forbearance ******

Sophie Hatter had always contained the forbearance to hold herself back from curiosity.

It was said that it was what killed the cat after all, and Sophie was nothing if not properly content. It did not do to dwell on things of a mysterious sort. Adventures and risks and such empty nonsense never did anyone any good.

Besides, she _liked _her quaint and quiet life, and that note had so adamantly told her that such a thing would be at risk of all sorts of things going amiss in it should she give in to looking at the book hidden beneath it.__

So why did she continuously find herself thinking about the oddity? _Could _it be that she was curious for a taste of the unseen after all? Sophie had never even entertained the thought before; she was the eldest of three, after all, and adventure was something that always led to the downfall of the eldest of three.__

And yet here she was, standing before her desk in her nightgown, covered in dust and grime after having searched in dim candlelight for the package.

Maybe Sophie Hatter was bored with _lovely _.__


	5. Denouement

**Denouement ******

Sophie needed a bit of spice to her lovely existence, anything to give her something more than the ordinary she'd settled for, being the eldest of three. She needed denouement. She needed a bit of rebellion. Nothing too wild, but enough to soothe the feathers that had been ruffled at the notes implying idea of being lovely and nothing more.

But above all, she needed to know.

And with that thought settled in her head, Sophie went about untying the aged twine. Setting the slightly crumpled and yellowed letter, with it's dogeared corners, neatly off to the side so that she could go about opening the box itself.

And when she peeled the cardboard back, reaching inside to lift the mysterious book from it's prison and bring it to her lips so she could blow the dust from it's cover, Sophie Hatter for the first time in a long time, found herself at a loss for words.

“The Quite Ordinary and Utterly Unremarkable Guide to Charming Glass.” Sophie recited, looking down at the book with such an odd expression that she herself didn't know where to begin in sorting out her emotions toward it. “And here I was expecting something with so much more... muchness to it.”


	6. Quintessential

**Quintessential ******

Sophie set the book down upon the worn surface of her writing desk, smoothing her hands across it's leather cover.

“You're not a real magical book.” she accused, crossing her arms in front of her in a fit of displeasure. “You are a prank set by Mr. Brom, the previous shop-keeper. I'm not going to fall for it though; not at all. I'm quite sensible and not at all prone to flights of fancy.” Sophie continued to stand there though, glaring at it as if had done her a personal injustice, before reaching forward to flip open the cover and turn to a random page. It was blank though, save for a single line of text.

“It is quintessential to start where everything begins; on page one.”

Blinking as if quite startled, Sophie turned to another page, flipping though them quickly; they all held the same message.

“I knew you were a prank.” she murmured accusingly, but shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, before finally pulling out her desk chair and sitting down, flipping all the way back to the first page.

This time, it wasn't blank.


	7. Eloquence

**Eloquence ******

Sophie quietly read aloud the text on the first page, marveling at the eloquence in which the narrator began though he seemed as if he was speaking to her directly. “ _There are many types of enchantments to which their uses pertain to glass, and so a forward would be a pleasant addition to the prose, but alas, this tome is for hands-on learning, and so we shall start right away at the beginning of lesson number one. For this you will need, of course, something glass, and an instrument in which to write on it. Anything will do. So come now, hurry about and gather your supplies _.”__

She looked up and around, almost frantic, before her eyes settled on the empty coke-bottle sitting upon the edge of her desk in which she'd forgotten to throw into the rubbish bin. She took it in hand and set it before the book, before then searching about for a quill.

“There, I think that should do it.” she spoke into the emptiness of her home, feeling as though she should whisper though she knew she was alone. It was Sunday, after all, and her neighbors would be sleeping. “The book did say that anything would work.”

Sophie Hatter then took a deep breath and turned back to the page before her to continue reading. “ _Perfect choices, now it is time to turn your ordinary object into a scrying glass. These objects are used to view distant lands and people, and are the simplest of objects to create with the correct symbols. Copy the diagram from the bottom of the page onto your object. Chop Chop now _.”__


	8. Epiphany

**Epiphany ******

Sophie wiped at the dust on her face, acutely aware of the dark smudge on the tip of her nose as so heavily accented by her warped reflection in the coke bottle she'd been so thoroughly covering in tiny dark symbols, but she only succeeded in smearing ink along the arch of her cheekbone, adding to her disheveled appearance.

And in doing so, Sophie Hatter had an epiphany: She was actually doing this. She was committed to the completion of this 'scrying glass', real or not. As if it were a promise of something grander than lovely. As if it were some sort of gift to pull her out of the routine she had contented herself with.

Turning back to the tome before her, she turned back to reading the next section of the instructions.

“ _Wonderfully done _,” The book praised. “ _Now all that is left is for you correct the second symbol to the left of the crossed sphere; your line is slightly crooked _.” she paused to fix it, unperturbed by the fact that yes, the book was indeed talking to her personally. “ _Now then, you need to flip to the next page, where there will be a simple incantation for you to recite, come and flip me over _.”______

She did, sounding out the words slowly, trying to figure out what they meant.

“ _We'll practice on your wording for a bit. This incantation is in Latin; try rolling your 'R's a bit more. Perfect. Perfect. Now turn to the glass itself and recite it _.”__

The resulting of-shooting of magical energies caused her entire house to shake.


End file.
